Uintah Wildman

Several weeks ago our old dog Leo, who had been with Kristina since she adopted him as a puppy, passed away. When she got him he was very anxious and afraid of the world, but with the help of a good dog trainer Kristina had made the world safe for him and given him a good life. Kristina felt the best way to honor his memory would be to rescue another dog and give it a good home, and I agreed. We traveled to Rock Springs, Wyoming, to pick up a dog from Oklahoma — who we have named Aldo. A couple of weeks later we found out Aldo had a friend in Oklahoma who was also in need of a home — so we made arrangements to adopt her as well, and we were again able to arrange to pick up the dog in Wyoming (this time in Green River). We decided Kristina would stay home with Aldo and our other dog, Charlie, while I went to pick up the new dog — and rather than doing the whole trip in one day I would camp en route to Green River.

Excited about the prospect of a “Chadventure” in Wyoming, I got busy looking at maps and planning my trip. Years ago while looking at my Wyoming atlases I noticed some wilderness study areas (areas that are managed to protect their wilderness character) on Bureau of Land Management land in Southwest Wyoming. We had passed within view of three of those areas during our previous trip, and I decided I would use this opportunity to explore one of them — Devil’s Playground Wilderness Study Area.

There’s always some inherent danger when exploring the outdoors, and I always try to be aware of the dangers of each trip. I know it’s safer to go with other people rather than alone, but I also feel there is something special about being alone in wild places. Many people (including my mom) don’t understand why anyone would want to go into wild places alone like I do. A person who does understand the joy of being alone in wild places is Jane Goodall – who spent time alone in the wilds of Africa while studying chimpanzees. She said, “For those who have experienced the joy of being alone with nature there is really little need for me to say much more; for those who have not, no words of mine can even describe the powerful, almost mystical knowledge of beauty and eternity that come, suddenly, and all unexpected.”

By the time I was ready to embark on my adventure it was later than I would have preferred — but I still had time to do most of my driving before it got dark. Before I left I did what I always do before I go off on a trip by myself — I made sure somebody knew where I was going. Kristina videoed me pointing out my planned routes on my maps. The importance of making sure people know where you are going was discovered the hard way several years ago by the guy who cut off his arm to escape after he got stuck in some rocks and realized nobody knew he had left his home in Colorado and traveled to Utah to explore.

Just as it was getting dark I arrived at the launching point for my hike, and I called Kristina to let her know I was there. I was tempted to just camp at the car, but I knew I would be disappointed if I did that; and I also thought about the fact that for me there’s something fun about about arriving at a campsite in the dark and then waking up in the morning and seeing what the place looks like in the daylight. So I got my pack ready and off I went, hiking to the west toward Devil’s Playground Wilderness Study Area. 

I tried hiking without my light for a little while, but it was really dark. An article I read in a science magazine talked about the health benefits of spending time walking in the dark without a light, but I decided that in this case the dangers outweighed the benefits. The only dangers that came to mind were the potential of tripping over a rock or stepping on a rattlesnake — but those were enough for me to turn on my headlamp (though I kept it in the dimmest mode). 

I couldn’t think of many other dangers for this particular area. Since there’s not much vegetation the area wouldn’t be good bear habitat; and it probably wouldn’t be good habitat for mountain lions either since it’s doubtful there would be deer or elk in the area, and pronghorn antelope are too fast for mountain lions. The dryness of the area would also make mosquitoes and the diseases they carry unlikely. And I wasn’t too worried about getting lost since I had good maps with me and the area has very recognizable features.

As I hiked I came to an old metal sign laying on the ground, partially buried. The only thing it said was “WARNING.” I knew it must be an old sign for a pipeline that passes along the boundary of the wilderness study area, but reading those words still gave me pause.

As I hiked through a relatively flat area I could see something big in front of me, and as I got closer I could tell it was an odd geologic feature — a pointed mound rising up out of the ground. As I took photos of the feature using the thermal mode on my phone I noticed an illusion that made it look like there was a face of some kind on the mound. To the west of the mound were some badland-type hills. With my headlamp and thermal phone app I could see that I was in a strange and interesting geological area — one deserving of the name “Devil’s Playground.” 

I started heading west up a wash and then hiked up out of it onto a ridge, in search of a place to camp. I found a little sink area where water from the occasional rainstorm appeared to seep into the ground, and on a little hill just above it I saw something quite terrifying. It was a deep hole in the ground — about the size of a manhole. I couldn’t tell just how deep it was, but one thing was for certain — if a person fell in that hole there would be no way to get out without help. I walked around a bit more, cautiously, before finding a relatively nice place to roll out my pad and sleeping bag.

I sat on my little camping chair and had a very late dinner of tortillas and vegan pimento cheese made out of cashews. It was so wonderful sitting there eating that amazing meal and enjoying the starry sky. I could see the teapot asterism (part of the constellation Sagittarius) and I could also see Scorpius. I continued to enjoy the view of the stars while I pulled a blanket over me and got a chocolate bar and marshmallows out of my backpack. It was like s’mores — but without graham crackers or a campfire. Chocolate, marshmallow, and stars are an amazing combination!

Eventually I got into my sleeping bag and laid there looking up at the night sky. I was fortunate to see a few falling stars (meteors). I took some photos of the stars, and I was somehow was lucky enough to get a photo containing the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, the North Star (Polaris), and… a falling star (my first ever time of getting a photo of one).

I was certainly not disappointed with the view that I woke up to. What I saw around me was a vast, beautiful landscape! I knew the morning light (what photographers call “golden hour”) wouldn’t last long, so I quickly got dressed, grabbed my camera, and started taking photos. Not far from my tent I came to the hole. I never could tell how deep it was, but my estimate would be fifteen or twenty feet. Eventually I found another hole that appeared to be just as deep, and just as impossible to get out of alone — and with a slightly smaller, more subtle opening at the surface. I thought about the idea of the area being a playground and I thought, “those are two playground rides I would not want to try.” Those holes were really some of the scariest things I’ve seen during a “Chadventure.” I can’t help wondering what it is about human nature that made me want to keep going back and looking at those holes. The thought even occurred to me that maybe in an alternate universe I fell in one of those holes and had to be rescued.

The Devil’s Playground area is very dry and barren-looking at first glance, but when you look more closely it turns out there are a lot of plants there. Some of them are species I was already familiar with, and some of them are new to me. Some are very tiny. I decided to see how many different species of plants I could photograph, and after my trip I ended out posting thirty-six kinds of plants on iNaturalist. Some of them have what I think are some pretty fun names, for example: textile onion, crested-tongue beardtongue, cut-leaf fleabane, salty buckwheat, pingue rubberweed, fullstem, bulbous spring parsley, spiny phlox, silver chickensage, dwarf ipomopsis, Green River milkvetch, and flatspine stickseed — to name a few.

I enjoyed nibbling on the leaves of a couple of textile onion plants, and I suspect some other plants there may have been edible as well — or had medicinal properties. I got so carried away enjoying observing the plants that it was a while before I got around to eating my breakfast. I carried my chair and my breakfast up the slope a little ways from my camp to a spectacular viewpoint and enjoyed bread and jam, and a blood orange. I decided to pack up camp and do a hike to the west before heading back to the car.

Along with plants living in the harsh Devil’s Playground landscape, there are also some animals. I found pronghorn antelope tracks and as well as a shedded pronghorn horn. As a general rule, antlers are shedded each year and horns aren’t — but pronghorns are an exception to that rule since they shed and regrow their horns annually. Along with the pronghorn evidence, I also found coyote footprints and scat, and a spiderweb. Sadly, I didn’t get to see the spider — but I enjoyed seeing its web. There were also the western harvester ants, and amazingly none of them bit me while I was photographing them.

I hiked up the main draw, and then a side draw, to a relatively flat area with a commanding view of the beautiful hills that had looked so far away from where I parked my car but were now so close. I felt like I was looking at the Emerald City in the Land of Oz. I really wanted to keep hiking, and hike to the top of those hills — but I knew there was going to be a transporter and dog waiting at a gas station in Green River and I needed to get back to my car so I could get there on time. So I hiked back at a fast pace — but not so fast that I couldn’t take time to stop and take a few more flower photos.

I got back to the car and headed for Green River. Luckily I got there before the transporter, with her vehicle loaded with dogs and cats from shelters on their way to new homes in the northwest. The transporter and her helper got the dog out of the transport vehicle and loaded into my vehicle, and we started the long journey home.

I stopped a few times and got the dog, who we would later rename Mintaka, out to walk around. One of our stops was at the Sheep Creek overlook, south of Manila, Utah. In the beautiful late afternoon or early evening light you could see the hills of the Devil’s Playground Wilderness Study Area way off in the distance to the north. I thought about how much I had enjoyed the delights of that area, and I was glad I had survived the dangers of it. We enjoyed our time at the overlook and then got back in the car and headed south toward Mintaka’s new home with Kristina and I, and Aldo and our many other pets.